Autumn is well and truly here

Autumn is here and don’t we know it..... leaves all over, gusty winds, and a bag full of windfall apples from our neighbour..... (have a look at the last of the crumble.....cream coming up). 

As we fall into autumn, we start to look for more hearty food like stews and slow roasts, and what better than beef brisket plate (sometimes called short ribs Jacobs ladder). Brisket on the bone IS a bit fatter but at least the fat is honest, if the cattle are grass fed the fat will contain omega 3 oils - not those vegetable style oils used in lots of processed foods but the healthier fish style omega 3’s.

This economically viable joint costs a lot less than other joints. As with other economical cuts of meat it takes a little more effort to prepare, but compensates ewe with massive flavour and tender, succulent meat. It can give you roasts, then make a great mince for lasagne, or, boiled first then roasted to brown and crispy, will give you a stock which when cold (and after removing the fat) will make a hearty and very cheap base for vegetable soup, beef and tomato soup and loads more.

You will be amazed by the reaction of your butcher when asking him for this cut as it is rarely sold over the counter in a joint but is usually boned and used in sausage and burgers etc. In fact, this might be the start of an interesting regular exchange with the butcher, which could if nurtured, yield for you many more economical cuts and interesting recipes. 

Bounty of the hedgerow

In the hedgerow this year are an abundance of autumnal fruits like blackberries - the fruit of the thorny avaricious weed that is the bramble. 

A couple weeks ago, my lad Radek and I went just five hundred yards from our house to pick blackberries. As a part of the essential tool kit, I took my very special (amazing) walking stick made by my very good friend Simon Grant-Jones, U.K.  champion blacksmith, and a milk carton adapted for blackberry-ing ....really all ewe need for a successful day out.;-)

Radek had his own cut of a plastic milk bottle, but his picking technique consisted of mostly “one for the pot, most in his mouth”.

The requirements for blackberry-ing (in addition to the fine walking stick) are, an immunity to nettle stings (as when you find brambles, you inevitably find nettles), and an eagle eye out for the bramble thorns. 

Be prepared for the fact that the best fruit are totally out of reach, hence the need for the stick. You’ll find also, that as you pull that lovely group of perfectly ripe fruit, unless ewe are lucky and can put your adapted milk carton under the ripe fruit to catch them, the best of them will fall on the floor into a really inaccessible place.

Also, as you let the branch spring back into place, the fruit you missed that were obscured by a bunch of leaves, will always look better than the fruit you just picked.

After you’ve spent an hour or two in the middle of a tangled mess of thorny brambles, the rewards of a blackberry and apple pie or crumble are second to none.  Without doubt the most rewarding and enjoyable pudding ever. Sat round the table with the kids eating you’ll find it even better with a bit of custard or fresh cream. 

Those of you in towns and cities will probably find this process just as easy as I did, and if not this year, try it the next as the relentless bramble takes hold of any ground given half a chance.